In the field with the Geronimo Hotshots, an elite crew of Apache firefighters who battle the biggest wildfires in the nation. Home for the Hotshots is on the San Carlos Apache Reservation in southeastern Arizona, where unemployment is high, and firefighting jobs are one of the few stable opportunities for work. “Your mom, your dad, your uncles, brothers, sisters, cousins—one of them probably fights fire,” says Squad Leader Jeff Belvado. The Geronimo Hotshots are one of seven Native American hotshot crews in the United States who are sponsored by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The film features GoPro footage from the Geronimo Hotshots’ 2013 fire season, shot by crew member Samson Belvado.
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More about Mexico’s Red Cross/La Cruz Rosa volunteer medical services: Mexican Red Cross’ network of more than 42,000 volunteers and some 12,000 paramedics work in providing pre-hospital care services. On average, the Mexican Red Cross provides more than 1.3 million people with emergency ambulance services, free of cost, every year. This equates to Mexican Red Cross responding to eight out of ten ambulance calls. Source: Mexican Red Cross ambulance service and volunteers bridging the healthcare gap
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A group of women in a remote Aboriginal community in South Australia’s APY Lands have formed the state’s first Indigenous female firefighting team. For cultural reasons women in Mimili cannot work with the men in the Country Fire Service (CFS) brigade in the town. But with the men often absent on cultural business and other help too far away, the women decided to undertake training so they could protect the community. Source: Mimili CFS brigade forms South Australia’s first Indigenous female firefighting team – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
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In 2014 NNABA: 585 Members, 330 youth track participants, from 49 different tribes, eight states and one Canadian providence. Every year Northwest Native American Basketweavers Association (NNABA) and a host tribe have a Gathering. The Annual Gathering moves to a different tribal location each year. Gatherings have been held in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. Moving the Gathering allows members of all tribes to participate without incurring prohibitive travel expenses. It also allows us to showcase local weaving specialties and honor the finest local weavers. Source: Northwest Native American Basketweavers Association
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Tjanpi Desert Weavers is a not-for-profit social enterprise of Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Women’s Council (NPYWC), an Aboriginal governed and directed Corporation. Tjanpi provides one of the few opportunities for self-initiated income on the 26 remote communities in the western and central deserts of Australia, and brings Aboriginal women together on country to collect grass, sculpt and weave, sing and dance and keep culture strong. Source: Support : Tjanpi Desert Weavers
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Tristan Grant, a hip-hop artist from the Pabineau First Nation has scored his first East Coast Music Award nomination, and he’s just 19. Source: Pabineau First Nation hip-hop artist gets first ECMA nod – New Brunswick – CBC News
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Many plants have worked their way into our lives, but few have done so with as much flair as the calabash. For over ten thousand years, people have used the calabash (known also as the bottle gourd… Source: Planet Calabash – Phenomena: The Loom
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The first World Indigenous Games has closed in a spectacular closing ceremony, after nine days of sporting competitions between indigenous peoples from around the world. The games took place in Palmas, Brazil, and involved 2,000 participants from 23 countries, including Finland, Bolivia and Canada. Source: First World Indigenous Games closes in spectacular ceremony in Brazil | Americas | News | The Independent
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